Koenig & Bauer (KBA) in Würzburg, Germany, global market leader in double and triple-width newspaper web presses and American manufacturer AH Tensor International LLC based in Woodridge, Illinois, have entered an alliance relating to the international distribution of single-width Tensor newspaper web presses.

An appropriate frame agreement was signed by Christoph Müller, KBA executive vice-president for the web press product house, and Mattias Andersson, CEO of Tensor International LLC and of the parent DCOS Sweden AB. It states that KBA will distribute single-width presses from Tensor in selected countries on a commission basis along with its own high-end presses via its global sales network. Such an agreement between Tensor and KBA North America Inc. for the USA and Canada was announced at GraphExpo. Further countries are expected to follow soon.

This deal takes into account the smaller global market volume for newspaper printing technology. In the current industry environment such alliances between manufacturers whose products address various segments within the newspaper market make sense with respect to costs. KBA accommodates high and very high demands in terms of productivity, automation and ease of operation with its double and triple-width presses. In contrast the presses from Tensor are engineered in terms of their equipment and output predominantly for heavily budget-oriented smaller newspaper houses.

The current agreement with Tensor International does not terminate the previous strategic alliance agreed in September 2009 between KBA and The Printers House (TPH) in India to promote single-width one-around Orient web presses in other markets.